Media Fragmentation – changing ways of using media

International research company Roy Morgan conducts market research across the United States, United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand and recently released some interesting information regarding the ongoing fragmentation of media consumption.

Roy Morgan Research Chief Executive Michele Levine and Director of Analytics & Integrated Marketing Simon Pownall presented a paper at the 2004 Australian Marketing Institute National Conference in Melbourne, on October 21 entitled Best Practice Information Trends - What Works?

In the presentation, which can be downloaded from the Roy Morgan Internet site , Levine and Pownall made some interesting observations regarding the continuing fragmentation of Australian media consumption.

“Not so long ago, if you wanted to introduce a new product or brand into the marketplace, you could almost guarantee to reach 90% of Australians population by doing a Sunday Night “Road block” – that is, advertise on Channel 7, 9 and 10 at the same time during the Sunday night movie,” reads the report. “Then came the internet, Pay TV, etc”

The accompanying chart clearly illustrates the rise in the Internet as a new force in media consumption.

The report continues, “It’s interesting to note that with the advent of the Internet and PAY-TV as new alternatives, they have not had significant impact on the traditional mediums, except for radio, which was declining before these (new mediums) arrived.”

In the company’s ongoing quest to track meaningful research statistics it is now in the process of benchmarking activity levels in one of the other media growth areas – direct marketing. The new research will go beyond traditional catalogues to Internet (email) telemarketing, SMS, and “whatever else evolves”.

The report makes interesting reading. “Almost the same proportion of the population is still reading newspapers and magazines and still watching commercial television – but it’s what is happening underneath these overall figures that is critical.”

“For instance, whilst newspapers have held ground in readership, the humble newspaper format has morphed into almost separate and discrete sections – lifestyle sections, food, fitness and magazines formats – driving page numbers and, in some cases, readers-per-copy, but raising the question “Does anyone still read the newspaper from cover to cover?”

“Talking about magazine formats, even the supermarkets and television broadcasters are getting into the publishing business – together with Federal Publishing Company, they publish some of the largest food readership titles – every month over one million Australians are reading food magazines - either Good Taste (Woolworths and FPC) Delicious (ABC and FPC) or Fresh (Woolworths and FPC). And, as an interesting correlation, the other magazine that’s growing with food – WeightWatchers!”

“What’s not on this chart, but which we have begun to track, is another media channel integral to many marketers – outdoor advertising. We recently built and released a process whereby we can measure the potential exposure one might receive to outdoor advertising by creating an activity index – that is, the relative difference between (if you like) “couch potatoes” and “gadabouts” – and there is a big difference in exposure levels.”

“This is close to a full 360-degree view of all media consumption patterns – a true best practice information base on which accurate and accountable media strategies can be built.”

“Without this you can’t know who you are reaching, how many or how many times, how can you possibly determine just what works and what does not?”